~~
The limo ride was surprisingly long. As far as I could tell without a watch on, we were driving for over an hour. Angelus tried his best to distract me with small talk, and when he saw that discussing the future wasn�t enough to hold my attention and calm my frazzled nerves, he went about the task of distracting me in a different way. Dropping gracefully to his knees in front of me, he slid his hand up the side-slit of my evening gown, raising it until he had it hiked up around my waist.
He leaned his face closer to my sex, holding eye contact with me the whole time, and maintaining that sexy smirk that drove me insane with desire and passion. At the first touch of his tongue to my heated flesh, all thoughts of nervousness were dissolved, and all that was left was my lover�s lips, tongue, and strong fingers. He pressed two fingers into my willing flesh, and licked his tongue around my clit ever so gently.
Pulling his fingers out, he licked them clean and then swiftly pressed them back inside. The simple act of seeing his tongue on his fingers made me hotter than I�d ever thought I could be.
The fact that the limo driver was just a few feet in front of us, probably able to hear every word and every gasp: barely registered in my mind as a concern. Angelus had thoroughly introduced me to sexual pleasure over the last week, and now it seemed that I had no shame over anything we did. That said, there were a few erotic delights that I�d never thought I�d want to try, that I now couldn�t wait for Angelus to introduce me to. For surely he would make them quite pleasurable for me.
Sliding his two fingers out, he joined a third to them and pushed back inside, making me stretch deliciously. �Yes,� I hissed, shutting my eyes and gripping the seat to keep from pulling his head straight into my boiling flesh.
But Angelus knew what I wanted just the same, and he smirked his response. Parting his lips, he slid his upper lip over my mound, and then brought his blunt teeth down onto my clit. I shrieked, urging him on by pressing closer. He answered without words once more, instead increasing the rhythm of his fingers into my dripping wet channel.
My breath hitched as the approaching climax splashed closer and closer. I was almost there. Just once more. Okay, maybe more than once.
I pressed closer to his teeth and fingers, and he growled his appreciation, sending shivers through my already-over-worked nerve endings, and pushing me off the edge of the climax cliff. I gasped his name and bit down on my lower lip as he continued to pump his fingers in and out of me in a sensual, driving rhythm. Oh that was perfect. So hot. So firm. So right.
So Angelus.
�Feel better, lover?� Angelus asked, sliding my gown back down and taking his seat next to me again. He pulled me into his arms and chuckled softly when I still didn�t answer. I was floating. I was sure of it. I was floating in a sea of pleasure and ecstasy. Nothing could ruin this happiness. I was in my lover�s arms, completely sated, with want for nothing but eternity at his side.
�Just relax, love,� Angelus said, �we�ll be arriving soon, and then the real excitement will begin.�
So much for distracting me.
**
The limo halted in front of the castle where the party was being held. Well it wasn�t so much a party, as it was an event. An event where power would be fought for, women would be pleasured, and mates would be stated. That was my real reason for bringing Buffy to this potentially dangerous place. I had to make sure that the demon underworld and upper world, both knew that she belonged to me. If it was stated at this event, then it wouldn�t be called into question if some obscenely stupid fledgling decided to piss me off by making a pass at my lover.
If it wasn�t for the fact that stating Buffy as mine once and for all had to be done at this place, I wouldn�t have brought her here at all. Things went on at these parties that I never wanted my precious love to hear of. Orgies consisting of twenty people. Blood festivals. Rape. Beating. Whatever you could think of that would fall under the category of Dark and Dangerous�It happened here.
Buffy looked up towards the monstrous building before us with wide, bright eyes. I ignored her fears, hoping that she�d drop them soon before she made me lose my mind with desire and blow off the entire event to simply devour her hungry, frightened flesh for hours on end.
I stepped out of the limo when the chauffer opened the door, and I turned to help my mate out. I smiled as I realized for the first time, just how much she was going to stand out from this crowd. My love was wearing white, and everyone else here would be in blood red, maroon, or black. No one had the power or the light to pull off a dress of white�Except my mate, that is.
�Shall we?� I offered my arm. She didn�t say anything as I hooked her hand through my arm and guided her up the stone steps to the castle. The doors opened long before we reached them, as the doormen wanted nothing to do with pissing me off. They probably remembered the last meeting. I hadn�t been too thrilled with the service at the party, and a few of the powerful vampires around me had received the worst of my wrath, with all of their servants dying pitiful, embarrassing deaths that could only be measured in enormous degrees of humiliation.
**
Entering the gigantic castle, it was as if all fears left me. For some reason, I suddenly felt over-confident and sure of everything I was and everything I had with Angelus. I soon realized that the reson for that wasn't that I had suddenly grown fangs like the rest of the partiers around me...It was because I was with Angelus. All of the vampires around us watched him with fear in their eyes, like they knew just how rough he could be if he was pushed too far.
The second thing that I realized, was that almost everyone here had dark hair. Odder still, was that no one was in light colors. They were all dressed from head to toe in black, brown, maroon, or blood red. I felt a moment of self-consciousness at the fact that I was blonde, and I was wearing white. But seeing the crowds part for Angelus and I to pass through made me push my doubts aside.
With Angelus, I knew what power felt like. It was a rush of adrenaline streaking through my veins like an injection of moriphine. I felt a giddy sense of happiness with my new position. Surely I was flying.
The first being that Angelus actually stopped to speak to, was a man that looked to be about Angelus' age...At least physically. I didn't know exactly how old he really was. He had longer hair though. It was dark brown, hanging down to his shoulders, surrounding an extremely attractive face, attached to an extremely well-formed physique. His essence also spoke of power and control like Angelus'.
"Damien," Angelus smirked, "long time...no see."
"Likewise," smiled 'Damien'. "I heard you had an incident. I did my best to subdue the rumors and hold your position. Mind you it hasn't been easy. You keep missing the parties. Of course, it was acceptable when you were with Darla. Everyone knows she hates these things, so you couldn't be expected to attend. Whatever became of her?"
"I killed her," Angelus said simply, taking a sip of the champagne he'd pulled off of a tray passing by. He handed me a crystal flute of my own, filled with sparkling fluid. "Darling, won't you meet Damien O'Roar. A very close friend of mine."
"Pleasure to meet you," I extended my hand politely, understanding what was expected of me. I was being normal, but my mind was suddenly buzzing. Who was Darla? What was her association with Angelus? And why the Hell did he dismiss her so swiftly if she was obviously important to him in society?
"Likewise, my dear," Damien smiled at me, reminding me of a lion. His obvious concentration on my body made me nervous for a moment. I knew instinctively that being left alone with this man, would not be a smart idea. He bent down and pressed a tender kiss to my hand, lingering just a moment too long.
"Damien, this is Buffy," Angelus said, taking another sip of his champagne. He then added with a playful gleam in his eyes, as if he knew his next words would cause a stir, "my mate."
The room quieted.
"Mate?" Damien almost choked on his tongue. He looked up from my hand, and then straightened and almost took a step back. I couldn't help smiling an evilly amused smile. That showed him and the rest of the room with barely any effort, to make sure they guarded themselves around me. There was a bulletin flying around right now, stating simply: Don't mess with Angelus' mate.
"Well, you certainly have been busy," Damien chuckled, gathering some of his scattered wits and brushing the dirt off his pride. "Killing your sire. Making a mate. My oh my."
"Oh Buffy isn't turned," Angelus said as if it was amusing that he was shocking everyone so much. Jaws all over the room were dropping. "She's my mate, but I haven't broughten her to the darkness yet. Mark my words, I will, Damien. But not just yet."
"Quite an unnecessary risk, isn't it?" Damien frowned as he looked closely at his friend, wondering just what he was up to.
"Not really. As long as she's with me, Buffy is not to be harmed. And Damien..." Angelus lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss over the skin that Damien had kissed, as if reclaiming his property. "Buffy will never leave my side.
After a moment to recover, Damien smiled, "well congratulations, my friend. Might I be the first to congratulate this joining?"
"You very well may be," Angelus chuckled, tucking my hand into his arm again.
"Well, allow me to announce it then!" Damien smiled. "Attention, all!" he called to the crowds, and the few people that weren't keeping deadly quiet in order to hear what the two master vampires were saying: quietened down to hear the announcement. "Angelus would like to introduce you to his new mate. This is Buffy. Please take your time this evening to congratulate the happy pair...Unless of course, you'd like to greet the dawn for not paying your proper respects." He looked serious, and the room remained quiet. Then he started laughing at their fearful faces, and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
All eyes were on me as I hung on Angelus' arm. This was a first, for sure. No one had ever been able to make Angelus commit. Especially not to a mate. And especially not to one that he wanted the whole world to know about.
~~
About an hour had passed of congratulations, and I was desperate for a chance to unhook my smile. My jaw was starting to hurt like Hell! "Angelus?" I quested, looking at him and hoping that he heard me.
He smiled warmly down at me, "yes, love?"
"Do you think I can find a bathroom?" I asked. "I really need a moment."
"Of course, love," he smiled. " It's down those stairs and to the first door." Seeing me scan the crowds of people that stood between me and my destination with a sense of trepidition in my eyes, he bent closer and whispered into my ear. "No one will bother you, but do you want me to escort you anyways?"
I smiled appreciatively. "I'll be fine." I leaned closer and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He smirked, and kissed my hand tenderly. "Hurry back, lover. You have five minutes before I start tearing people apart."
I smiled, understanding his joke. I parted from him then, and headed through the long ballroom towards the large set of stairs. The way the crowds almost parted when I came through shocked me. This experience was so new to me...But it was definitely one that I could get used to on a permanent basis.
I was almost to the stairs when a woman stepped up to me and touched my arm to get my attention. "Excuse me?" she quested for my full concentration.
I turned around to look at her. The tight, low-cut, V-neck, maroon dress she was wearing accentuated her womanly figure and high, huge breasts. Her long, brown hair was twisted into a tight bun on the top of her head, and her dark, oval eyes were staring into me as if she was trying to intimidate me.
Needless to say, she was gorgeous.
She was slightly taller than me, even with my heels on, so I had to look up a bit. "Yes?" I answered politely, and waited for her to continue.
"My name's Thalia. I don't want to beat around the bush, so I'll get right to the point. I'd just like to warn you about a few things," she said. "You seem like someone who shouldn't be caught up in this world, but if you're going to be, I think there's a few things you should know about us."
I didn't know what to say in response. What would be the best response? Damned if I know! "I don't know what you mean," I tried to dismiss the conversation.
But she would have none of it. "I think it's best if you come with me," she said.
For some reason, my curiosity was getting the best of me. I glanced at Angelus, and once I was sure that he wasn't watching, I nodded at Thalia and followed her down the steps that I was going to be taking on my way to the bathroom.
Reaching the bottom of the marble stairs, we passed the first door, and kept going. After several moments, we turned the corner and came to a long hallway. "Where exactly are we going?" I asked curiously as I looked around me at the medieval style that the hallway was decorated in. It was so different in comparison to the elegant style of the rest of the home. This hallway was so cold and dark.
Noticing that I had stopped walking, Thalia turned to look at me. "Are you coming?" she asked.
"What are you going to show me?" I asked.
"I can't tell you here," she said. Sensing my reluctancy, she came back to where I was, and took my hand. "You'll thank me later," she assured me. "Just come with me." With that, she began pulling me down the hall.
I followed with little hesitation. For some reason, I desperately wanted to know what she was taking me to see.
We arrived at a huge door with a code bar on the side of it. She pressed in a ten-digit code that I didn't pay attention to, though it dawned on me that it could be useful to me in the future if the contents of this room were really important.
"In here, you'll see someone. But it's not who you think it is. Just remember that. I'll make sure you're not in there too long, but find out what you need to know. The person in here really needs to see you...Now." She opened the door and stepped aside for me to enter.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"I can't tell you that. You'll know when you're inside. Just go now." She pushed me towards the door.
I stumbled into a dark room, illuminated by only three candles. The floor was blood red, and the walls were black. On one side of the room, there was an open, steel gate. In the darker corner of the room, I heard a rattling sound.
"Hello?" I called a little hesitantly.
"You came," a strained, hoarse voice said as if the owner of the voice was scarcely daring to believe that I was really there. "I can't believe you came."
I saw someone sitting in the corner of the room. It was a man. Dressing in just a pair of black pants, he was sitting against the wall in the corner of the room. The candlelight flickered over his form. Even in the darkness of the room, I could see his body was streaked with dirt. His face was turned away from me, but his voice sounded so familiar. "Who are you?" I asked, my throat tightening as fear enabled me to understand who this was.
The man finally turned his head to face me. His dark, tortured eyes locked with mine, and his mouth was quivering as if he was afraid of being beaten or yelled at. "You know who I am."
"Angelus?" I whispered, praying to God that it wasn't him. My conscious mind laughed at me. It mocked me. You just saw Angelus! He's out having the time of his undead life, feasting on the fear of a room of vampires!
"No..." the man answered. "Try again."
"Angel?" I asked. I don't know where the name came from. I didn't know anyone named Angel...But seeing him, made me realize that I did. I knew him. I knew Angel. This was Angelus' other half.
This was Angelus' soul.
-
Outside the room, Thalia punched in a code into the door and pressed a red button. With that, she turned and left the hallway, heading back towards the party.
**
I looked up from the crowd of demons around me, and glanced at the grand clock at the top of the stair case. Buffy was a minute late. Maybe something was wrong.
I was about to ignore the lateness and excuse it without a care, when I got a feeling. A chill down my cold, unfeeling spine. Something was going on. And that's when I saw her.
Thalia.
I growled low in my chest, causing most of my crowd to fall back a few steps. I dropped my champagne flute without a care, not even registering the break of glass in my mind as an expensive mess. I was determined to find out what that devious, souled bitch had done with Buffy.
"Where is she?" I asked in a low voice before I even reached the dark brunette. The room parted and cowered away, sensing my immediate anger at the idea of my mate being in danger. "What have you done with her, Thalia?"
She didn't say anything as I reached her and stopped just a foot from where she was, willing myself to calm before I ripped her head from her body and lost all of my hope for finding out what was going on with Buffy.
"Tell me where she is," I commanded, my voice growing more menacing with each passing second.
Thalia smiled faintly and asked, "no hello?"
"Hello," I humored her, trying to speak through my gritted teeth, "what the fuck have you done with Buffy?"
"I didn't do anything," she said simply.
"Tell me, Thalia. Doesn't it hurt your soul to lie like that?" I asked, tilting my head to the side, and knowing that the crowds were now remembering that Thalia had a soul.
She'd always had one.
When she was turned two hundred years ago, her soul had remained for some reason. She'd never been able to murder, and that had made her an outsider to society of all kinds. She spent her time in a big mansion in the Swiss Alps, reading or some shit like that. No one ever really cared enough to give a damn about her.
"Soul," she mused to word out loud. She probably wasn't intending to let her little secret slip, but that one second of musing was all it took for me to understand. That underhanded bitch had taken Buffy to the hall of the souls.
Angel.
I growled, "I'll be back for you," I assured her, and flew from the room at an alarming rate. I ran towards the staircase, intent upon getting my mate out of there as soon as possible.
**
"Angel?" I took a step forward.
Angel shot to his feet. "No!" he commanded. "You can't come closer. He'll be able to smell me on you." His face paled even more then. "He's noticed you're missing. He'll be coming for you soon."
"What's going on?" I asked. I was so confused. "What are you doing here? I don't understand any of this."
"I'm the soul. Angelus is the demon. He has the possession of the body, and you. I just had to see you. I had to see you for myself. Just once. Please don't be angry with me. I know it's a risk for you to see me, but I had to see you. I just had to tell you. I had to tell you."
"Tell me?" my brow furrowed. "Tell me what? What do you want to tell me? I don't get it."
"I love you, Buffy," he whispered, his eyes revealing his honesty. "Angelus loves you, but I love you more. I've always loved you. He never knew you existed. I always knew you were there. I felt you before he met you. I feel you still. You're strong. But you love him. You want to spend eternity with him, don't you?"
I looked down at my hands as I played with them nervously. "I don't know what I want anymore."
"You know you do," Angel reassured me. "You want an eternity with him. You can have that. You will have that. Just make sure...Make sure you remember I loved you first. I've loved you forever. I'll always love you."
"How have you known me?" I asked. "When did we ever meet?"
"He's coming," Angel looked to the door. "You have to go now. You have to go before he finds out where you've been. Don't tell him you were here. Just go now. I love you Buffy. But you have to go."
"Go where?" I asked. I was getting frantic as my fears mounted. Angelus was coming for me, and he would not be pleased if he found me in here. I was certain of that. "Angel?!" My voice stopped working then. I felt a tingling sensation all through my body. My panic rose a hundred percent.
It rose even more when I looked down at my tingling hands, and noticed that they were fading. Oh no! I was disintegrating! I tried to call for Angel, for help, for anything! But my voice didn't work.
I was dying.
I looked to Angel. He looked so tortured. So filled with anguish and pain, both mental and physical. He couldn't do anything to stop this. He could only watch as I faded away into nothing.
He stepped up to me as I began to go. Reaching up, he unloosened the clip in my hair, and watched as my fading blonde hair fell around my shoulder in delicate curles and waves. He ran his fingers through it and smiled softly. "I love you," I saw him mouth the words to me, though I couldn't hear him anymore.
And then I was gone.
**
Running down the steps, I spotted the first door. The bathroom where Buffy was supposed to have gone. But she wasn't there. I would have felt her if she was there. No, I felt her down the hall on the left.
I raced for the corridor on my left. Entering it, I spotted the stone door. I ran to it, and began punching in the remembered ten-digit code. I was just about to enter the final number, when I felt Buffy's presence leaving.
It was gone all of a sudden.
I frowned and hesitated before pressing the button. I looked at it, and tried with all of my might to search the room beyond this door, to see if perhaps Buffy was just hiding. But no, she wasn't there at all.
I turned around then, feeling her presence back the way that I'd come. I began moving slowly back down the way that I'd ran. I went back into the big hallway, and sure enough, I felt Buffy. In the bathroom.
Where she hadn't been before.
**
I was coming back. Oh praise God! I was coming back! I wasn't dead! It was hard to see at first. Everything was blurry as my eyes formed once more. I looked down at my hands, and watched as they continued to come back to full form. I flexed my now-solid fingers, and sighed in relief when I felt normal sensations instead of that tingling.
I looked around me then. The marble floors, elegant, feminine designs, and large sinks gave away my location. I was in a bathroom.
How the Hell did I get here?
Without a second to doubt it, I knew the answer. I knew who had brought me here to make sure that Angelus didn't catch me with Angel.
Thalia.
That was when the door burst open, and an enraged Angelus flew in. "Buffy," he looked at me suspiciously. I smiled my best reassuring, inconspicuous smile. He frowned then, "you took a little longer than five minutes, love. What happened?"
I wracked my mind for a solution. Something to say. Anything! I remembered a TV show I'd seen once, and I smiled brightly. "Angelus!" I went to him and took his hand. I pulled him into the bathroom. "Have you seen the toilets here? They flush in the other direction than they do in the states!"
Angelus studied me closely, as if trying to read my mind. I held my act though, and he seemed to buy my beaming smile as I flushed the toilet to show him just how cool this new discovery was.
Angelus chuckled softly then, and pulled me into his arms, "I was worried, lover. Make sure you don't dally as much next time, alright?"
"Okay," I hugged him back, trying to keep the brief disgust that I felt from showing. Seeing how tortured Angel was had made me question how kind Angelus would always be to me. After all, Angel was his own soul, and he didn't treat him all that well. How would he treat me in a year? Five years? A century?
"How about we go back to the ballroom now?" Angelus offered.
I nodded, and allowed him to lead me from the room. One thing that I noticed as we left the room that made my jaw drop, was my hair.
It was hanging around my shoulders with no clips in it.
~~